Nightboat to Cairo
by living to death
Summary: Romance can happen for anyone, dreams can come true. But they can fall through too - they're all older now and other things are overulling the priority of being shinobi. Character death, OC-centric, some shippuuden spoilers. Me no own naruto.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

Green eyes surveyed a scene of carnage – the aftermath of a brief, bloody battle. They would be full of tears had they any left to cry.

A platinum blonde boy knelt by the first dead body. He was only fourteen – the body he held was all too familiar. His eyes held the shock of some recently imparted knowledge. He wouldn't share the dead man's last words for some time.

The dead man was Sasuke. Sakura was saved from simply disappearing by the sense of purpose being a medic gave her. She knelt opposite the young boy, searching dutifully for a pulse she knew was long gone. The boy had already closed Sasuke's eyes in respect, and she was grateful. If they had been open – staring, lifeless – she might have just gone over the edge.

She stood away to let others take care of the body, moving on to where another familiar face lay, equally dead, flanked by the boy's two teammates who had looks of disbelief on their faces. The girl had empty eyes, while the boy's were full of tears. She had to help him away as Sakura checked for another non-existent pulse, and let others take this body too.

Death count: two. Uchiha Sasuke. And Rock Lee.

And another body. Torn, bloodied and mutilated almost beyond recognition. She was able to identify him firstly by his ring and cloak – her suspicions were confirmed by the left side of his face, which was still intact. The unmistakable lines. No one had closed this eye.

Uchiha Itachi. She gently drew his eyelid down over his remaining eye, the other being lost in the ruin of his face.

Naruto stood, watching all this in mute shock, tears in his eyes and his palms bleeding from where his nails had cut them. The sun began to set as training ground three emptied, leaving just him and Sakura and the smell of death.

Three dead at training ground three.

And life would never be the same again.

* * *

Elsewhere, another pair of green eyes filled with tears. She had just heard the news from Hinata.

Keri, Shino's wife, was crying. Her husband was away on a mission, and wouldn't find out till he returned in a week. But hearing others talking about the incident ("did you see it?" "who are they!" "so much blood...") brought back memories she never knew she had, and she was struggling to cope. Her brother, Jin, had been on Lee's team. He had held the Uchiha as he died. And somehow the situation felt too close for comfort.

So she ran. She wound up in her lifelong refuge – well, for as long as she had lived in Konoha. She couldn't remember her life before she was ten and never wanted to, but it seemed that fate had other things in mind.

She took up a book, one she'd read many a time, and tried to lose herself again in that fantasy world. But try as she might the pages blurred and the words fell meaningless to her mind.

So, frustrated, she threw the book aside, and looked up to see a familiar face.

"You've heard, right, man-tart?" she asked in a pathetic voice. Sai just nodded, and sat by her as she cried.

* * *

In another training ground, Tenten was crying. Neji had told her. And for the first time in her life she had given herself over to tears. Gai was away, and she knew he'd be devastated when he returned to find his student dead. But right now she could only hear the sound of her own grief, drowning out things she normally took comfort in – the song of the birds, the rustling of the leaves, or the sound of Neji's voice. And tears obscured the violent shades of the setting sun. She couldn't even think, only mourn, and it killed her inside to feel like this. But she knew she would never be the same person she once was.

* * *

Yeah, the story needed a prologue, so this is it. Before anybody goes "wttf shino has a wife" they are eighteen/nineteen-ish here, and this is my story. Thanks for listening


	2. Chapter 1

This is in fact a sequel to another story set during the chuunin exams (you know, the original ones), but I wanted to write this one up first.

Forgive any OOCness, but people change, okay?

* * *

Uhh…about….a few months since the prologue:

Stumbling, the young woman had one thought alone – _we gotta get the hell out of here!_

She could see Matt not too far away. One of the bandit's blades nicked his skin, but he kept fighting. She quickly dispatched her opponent with a sword to the stomach. She was by Matt's side before blood even hit the sand. Together, she and Matt disposed of the third, but the fourth was much more skilled. She received several gaping wounds to her arms and thigh, and Matt gained a life-threatening gash in his stomach before the final bandit fell to his sword. She sheathed her blade and caught Matt as he fell, picking him up with ease. He was bleeding heavily from his stomach.

She ran across the sand with him in her arms, talking to him, keeping him awake. The village walls were in sight. She began to run faster, using chakra to fuel her flight to the village. To Suna.

She was weakening by the moment – they hadn't eaten in a few days, and she had lost quite a bit of blood herself. Matt's blue eyes began to close and she panicked.

"Matt! Stay awake! Just until we get to Suna… just a little longer…"

He kept his eyes open and held his gaze on her face. It was smeared with blood, others and her own. Her clothes were soaked through with his blood. The village walls were close… Then they were running through the dark cool entrance… then heat again, light and noise. Then nothing.

A guard took Matt from her, but she was screaming desperately now. "Matt, stay awake, please! Oh god, MATT!" She just managed to finish her sentence before collapsing.

* * *

Haruno Sakura read the letter that morning, as she did every day.

_Sakura._

_I must go now. It is time I made my own way through life. I must carve my own path in the wilderness. You will blossom like the flower of your name, and may your fall never come._

_I will go by a different name, so don't bother trying to find me._

_Lyrax_

It had been seven years now, and Lyra had been right. She had blossomed, as a kunoichi and as a woman. She refolded the letter, and left home for Tsunade's office. No-one else was up at this hour, and in the pre-dawn light Konoha was cool and beautiful.

The Hokage, her old teacher, handed her a letter. She remained standing to read it.

_Sakura,_

_We require your assistance in Suna immediately. I believe you will understand the importance when you arrive. Naruto will meet you at the gates._

_Gaara._

She reread the letter, frowning. What could be so urgent? Were Temari or Kankuro sick? If so, why had he not explained the situation in the letter? It wasn't like it could be intercepted.

"You will go immediately," Tsunade informed her. "There was no other information but I trust the Kazekage's judgement. He would not send for you unless absolutely necessary." Sakura nodded.

She quickly ran home and packed, slipping Lyra's letter in her bag as an afterthought. Her clock informed her it was 6:30, and she challenged herself to arrive in Suna by nightfall. She left the village, running at a steady pace, but then she remembered the urgency of the letter, the abruptness, and picked up her speed. She was a mere pink and red blur to passers-by.

By the time she had entered the desert she was beginning to tire. She couldn't keep up this pace… No! She would not slow. Naruto wouldn't.

As the sun began to set, the village appeared on the horizon, and she raced the cold desert night into Suna, throwing herself on Naruto in a hug which sent them both toppling to the ground.

"Miss me?" he laughed breathlessly. She stood up and pulled him to his feet, dusting herself off.

"A bit," she admitted, through gasping breaths. When Naruto had announced he was going on holiday she had been incredulous. "Shinobi don't take holidays," she had told him. "This one does," he'd replied, grinning stupidly.

"Anyway, you can tell me how much you love me later. To the hospital!"

They met Gaara outside a room on the first floor. Sakura took the chance to see how time had made a difference on the young Kazekage, whilst Naruto tackled him with a hug, complaining about how Gaara had no time for him anymore. He was still the shorter of the siblings (still, very tall). He had grown into himself really well, she thought, the old evidence of terminal insomnia still hovering around his eyes, but otherwise he was almost…_handsome_. She found that disturbing, as he had nearly killed her as a child. Naruto let go of him and Gaara nodded to Sakura.

"Glad you could come. You arrived sooner than expected, I hope you didn't waste too much chakra… but I'm glad. Your patient is in here." She followed him into the hospital room to see a woman of her age lying on the bed in the middle, sandy blonde hair dirty and tangled, complexion pale from massive blood loss. "It has been seven years since you saw her last – do you not recognise her?" Sakura gasped.

"Lyra?" a nod was her answer. "My god, what happened to her?"

" We believe her and her companion were tangled up with some bandits. Got in a fight, won but still came out bad. Her companion died on arrival. We did all we could for her, but she's comatose."

"So what can I do?" _I ran all that distance for this?_ She always had worried too much, she should have taken it slowly, conserved her chakra, and scolded herself for being so daft_ It's his fault for writing that damn letter too abruptly…_

"I thought you could talk to her when she wakes up. I doubted Temari's face would be a comfort to her, and I haven't the time to give her the support she'll need after this." Sakura nodded. She was curious that Gaara seemed so worried, but she could interrogate him later.

She went to the apartment Naruto was staying in and which they shared on visits, fell onto the bed and slept for two days straight. _Note to self – never use so much chakra running again!_

She woke up and made herself a pot Ramen – Naruto was always well stocked. He had left a note for her to let her know he was out pestering Temari (_probably about Shikamaru_, she thought). She finished the Pot ramen and set off for the hospital.

Lyra didn't wake until the next day.

"Sakura? Where am I? What… what happened?"

"You are in Suna. Gaara sent for me to talk to you, heal you." Lyra's eyes became heavy with weary acceptance.

"Matt died, didn't he." It was a statement, but Sakura still nodded.

"I'm sorry"

"Don't be. There was nothing anyone could have done for him, in that state. I knew he would die young, the first time I met him."

"How could you possibly know?"

"I know these things, Sakura. I don't think to question why or how. Wait… did you say Gaara brought you here?" Sakura's curiosity was piqued.

"Yes. He's Kazekage now, he almost never leaves. Do you want to see him?"

"Please." Kazekage, eh? How things had changed.

Sakura fetched Gaara, and left him with Lyra while she searched for Naruto.

Lyra stared unblinkingly at the man as he entered her hospital room. She had left him, all those years ago, hurt and confused and with a heart hardened once again by her selfish actions. Now she felt guilty, and reflexively clutched the scar on her arm she had made for him. With him. They had made a promise bonded in blood, and it sang out to him now, thrumming through her veins. She took in every detail, every change in him.

He knelt by her head, levelling his soft green gaze with hers. He spoke sadly.

"Why did you have to go? You could have stayed, become a Shinobi, had a proper childhood. Such as a Shinobi's childhood is…" She smiled at him sadly.

"It was just what I had to do."

"But imagine! If you had stayed, you could have become genin, chuunin. Jounin, even…"

"Stop!" tears choked her words. "I do not want to dwell on what may have been!" But his words had struck something in her, and now her mind clouded with regrets and _what if?_s.

"I'm so sorry…" She began to cry, and he held her in his arms as she curled up to him for comfort while she wept. Tears sprang to his eyes, but he did not cry.

Sakura, having failed to find Naruto, looked through the glass of the door ten minutes after she had left. What she saw puzzled her. Lyra was sobbing uncontrollably, and Gaara was just holding her as she cried. _What?_ Well that was something she never thought she'd see. _Poor girl._

Later that night as they got ready for bed, she told Naruto of what she had seen.

"She's come home," he stated.

"We have to find out what happened between them way back when…," she told him, and he nodded and turned off the lamp.

"Goodnight"

But he was already fast asleep.

Hmm... I'm so crappy at bringing my story together, sorry for the clunkyness of the chapter, but things needed pulling together. Thanks again for listening.


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